Baseball: Owls host Ragin' Cajuns in three-game Sun Belt series

FAU needs to improve its play in its own home if the Owls want to stay on top of the Sun Belt standings.

FAU (16-10, 5-1) is 8-7 at FAU Baseball Stadium and has eight straight home games coming up, starting Friday when the Owls host Louisiana-Lafayette (13-11, 3-3) in the start of a three-game conference series.

It is the first home Sun Belt series for the Owls, who are 8-3 on the road. FAU is tied with Arkansas State and South Alabama for first place in the conference.

Ryan Garton (4-2, 2.09 ERA) will start in Friday’s 6:30 p.m. game. Garton is coming off his first Sun Belt loss, though he only gave up two earned runs in six innings. He will go against ULL’s Jordan Nicholson (3-1, 3.22)

Second baseman/catcher Mike Albaladejo leads FAU with a .363 average, sixth best in the conference, and he leads the Sun Belt with 37 hits. Third baseman Kyle Newton is fourth in the conference with 34 hits and he is hitting .333.

Ryan Leonard (.348) is the leading hitter for the Ragin’ Cajuns.

Game times are 6:30 p.m. Friday, 4 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday and all are webcast at fausports.com.